Fyodor I. Shalyapin was born in February, 1973 in Kazan. Having finished a local parish school, he worked as a scribe. As a small boy Shalyapin got elementary knowledge of music from his neighbour, and then he began to sing in a suburb church choir. In 1890 Shalyapin entered the Semyonov-Samarinsky’s opera company in the Ufa city.

The first Shalyapin’s stage performance implied a choir part in the comic opera “The Singer from Palermo”. When the season was over, Shalyapin joined the Derkach’s company of vagrant artists. Having toured the cities of the Ural and Volga regions, the troupe left for Baku. There in 1892 Shalyapin joined the French company of LaSalle. Soon the LaSalle’s troupe broke up. Shalyapin went to Tiflis and lived there on the many he got occasionally. Usatov, a famous teacher of singing from Tiflis, got interested in him. He began to teach Shalyapin and managed to provide him a small scholarship. He used to invite the young man to have dinner together and taught him good manners during meal time.

The first professional opera company, which Shalyapin joined in 1893, was that of the Tiflis Opera Theatre. For one season he had to learn twelve parts from different operas. But Shalyapin’s Miller from “The Mermaid” and Tonio from “The Clowns” were particularly splendid. In 1894 Shalyapin went to Moscow. He failed to enter the Bolshoi Theatre, but he was engaged by the Petrosyan Opera Company, being cast for St. Petersburg theatre “Arkadia”.

In two month the Petrosyan’s theatre went bankrupt and Shalyapin entered the Opera Singers’ Troupe of the Panayev’s Theatre. In 1895 he attracted the attention of the Mariinsky Theatre administration, and after the audition they signed the contract for three years. Thus, Shalyapin appeared on the imperial stage. In April 1896, substituting a bass singer, Shalyapin evoked everybody’s interest after the performing Milllers’s part in “Mermaid”. His great success and audience’s recognition together with critics’ appreciation made Shalyapin famous. In summer he got invitation from Nizhniy Novgorod to perform during the well-known Fair in private company of Savva Mamontov, Russian millionaire and patron of art. Mamontov invited the best singers and musicians from the capital and ordered rich costumes and scenery.

He wanted to create true Russian opera theatre. In autumn he asked Shalyapin to leave the state theatre and joined his company, which began to perform in Moscow at that time. Shalyapin’s talent as opera singer and drama artist was completely revealed in Mamontov’s Opera Company. Mamontov managed to gather a lot of talented people, who were in sympathy with his ideas.

Rakhmaninov was the conductor; Korovin, Polenov, Vrubel, Levitan, Serov and Vasnetsov were among his theatre designers. The establishment of Private Opera was aimed at propaganda of music by composers of “Moguchaya Kuchka” (Musorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov), as their compositions were not staged at state theatres at that time. Their works constituted the main repertoire of Mamontov’s Opera Company. Shalyapin’s debut in Moscow took place in the end of September of 1896.

He sang Susanin in Glinka’s opera. In a few days he performed the part of Mephistopheles in “Faust” and got a great success. But the real fame came to Shalyapin, when Mamontov staged “A Young Woman from Pskov City” by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was the first time, when he performed the part of Ivan the Terrible.

The season of 1897/98 was marked by new success of Shalyapin, who sang Dosifai in “Khovanshchina” by Musorgsky and Guest from Varyag in “Sadko” by Rimsky-Korsakov. The next season he proved his popularity, performing Olophern in “Judith” and Salieri in “Mozart and Salieri”.

Shalyapin’s unsurpassed skill of playing Boris Godunov in Musorgsky’s opera of the same name can be compared only with Shakespeare’s masterpieces. Having included Godunov’s part in his repertoire, he was unanimously recognized as the best opera singer of Russia. Administration of state theatres spared neither strength nor resources to bring Shalyapin back to their stages. In autumn 1899 Shalyapin signed the agreement with Bolshoi Theatre for three years. In 1898 Shalyapin married to a ballerina of Mamontov’ theatre Iola Tarnagi from Italy. Shalyapin’s appearance on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater got standing ovation. Critics wrote that Shalyapin’s phenomenon symbolizes the end of lasting process of national opera creating.

In 1901 the Bolshoi theatre staged “Boris Godunov”, “The Young Woman from Pskov City”, “Mozart and Solieri, i.e. all that had been arrogantly rejected by state theatres. In 1900 Shalyapin got the invitation from La Scala Theatre in Milan to perform Mephistopheles in Boito’s opera of the same name. His performance on March 16, 1901 made the same impression on the Milan demanding theatre goers as on the Moscow audience. Even his first aria got a storm of applauds. The next morning he woke up as celebrity of the world scale. In May 1907 Dyaghilev organized the first performance of Russian artists in Paris, which was titled “Russian Seasons Abroad”.

Shalyapin was the most popular artist. In 1908 Dyaghilev brought a whole opera performance to Paris – “Boris Godunov” with Shalyapin as a leading singer. At the same time Shalyapin toured Berlin, New-York and Buenos Aires or the first time. He took part in “Boris Godunov” opera staging in Italian. Owing to Shalyapin Russian operas were included in the repertoire of foreign theatres and became the property of the world opera art.

French composer Massenet created opera “Don Quixote” especially for Shalyapin in 1910. He played a part of Don Basilio in “Sevilla Barber” and King Philip in “Don Carlos”. Shalyapin stopped touring with the beginning of World War I. In 1916 he left the state theatre once and for all. Then he performed in Aksarin’s private theatrical enterprise and Zimin’s private opera company. He often recited in free-of-charge concerts for the benefit of wounded soldiers. Shalyapin was favorably disposed forward the October revolution.

In April 1918 he returned to the Mariinsky theatre. It was difficult time for the theatre. Nevertheless, Shalyapin worked with strong inspiration. In November 1918 he was awarded the title of People artist by the resolution of Council of People’s Commissars. In 1919 Shalyapin became a member of the theatre administration and actually became its artistic director.

He had to face attacks of proletarian culture officials, who considered opera to be survival of the past. Shalyapin went to Moscow and met Lenin. They decided to set the association of academic theatres and keep for themselves all their property. In 1920 Shalyapin began touring overseas again.

Huge fees paid for his every performance, could hardly be compared with the money he got in Petrograd. That might have been one of the reasons, why he didn’t want to come back to Russia. In April 1922 Shalyapin came to Petrograd and acted in “Boris Godunov”.

In a few days he went touring and didn’t come back. Shalyapin had a big flat in Paris, near the Biarizz estate. In 1927 the Soviet Government deprived him of the title of people’s Artist. Prince Tseretely established Russian Opera Company, consisted of Russian actors-immigrants. Shalyapin joined it. Russian Opera had the reputation of one of the best opera theatres of Europe. In 1932 Shalyapin starred in the “Don Quixote” sound film. Shalyapin’s world fame increased from year to year. But, since 1936 his health became worse.

In summer 1937 doctors diagnosed his heart disease and pulmonary emphysema. At the beginning of 1938 symptoms of malignant anaemia became obvious, and in April Shalyapin died of leukaemia.